LOS
by WhisperAwesome100
Summary: Lara Stevenson was just an ordinary, quiet, clever kid living with her mum, dad, brother Roberto and sister Rebecca. But then she got a letter that turned her whole life upside-down.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hi, this is set one year after Harry came to Hogwarts but none of those students exist and Voldemort is still alive properly. Hope you enjoy! :)_**

Lara was alone in her tree again. Well, it wasn't really her tree but she always sat in it at breaktimes and no one else used it, so she had claimed it. She was always alone, but she didn't mind much. Lara knew everyone at school thought she was weird, she even saw some of the teachers staring at her occasionally, but she didn't mind. Lara had never really had friends but she had never wanted them. She was in year six and it was nearing the end of summer term and it was a Friday, so everyone else was lounging around being the 'scary big kids' but the heat didn't bother her much. She just simply loved schoolwork. It gave her something to do and she was very clever and so therefore never found any of it annoying or strenuous, just fun and occasionally challenging, even boringly easy.

"Miss Stevenson!" Lara's head shot up dragging her out of her thoughts. She groaned. No, please, not Mrs. Benton. Anyone but her. "Lara Stevenson! How many times do I have to tell you? GET OUT OF THAT TREE! No climbing trees at school!" Lara knew this but she didn't see why Mrs. Benton made such a fuss. There was a running joke among the students that Mrs. Benton was pretending to be married because surely no one would want to marry that creature. Lara knew exactly what was coming next, and sure enough, "DETENTION! Next week, Monday and Tuesday, you can spend you lunches out of that tree," she spoke with so much pleasure that Lara knew she must be evil, "and in my classroom cleaning and sorting the cupboards on Monday and cleaning the floors and windows on Tuesdays," she left, her head held high with a slight spring in her step, Mrs. Benton loved giving detentions, Lara gave a sarcastic smile to her back. The bell rang for the end of lunch. Lara sighed and went in for maths.

That evening she didn't tell anyone about her detentions because her brother and sister would laugh and her parents would be shocked and tell her they thought she was better than that. The children sat in silence as the family ate, Rebecca had her phone under the table and Roberto was sneaking jealous glances at her, he had always wanted a phone. Lara listened to her parents' talk. They always talked about the same things, but she found it mildly interesting, more interesting that her siblings anyway. Today they were talking about the recent death of some famous person Lara had never heard of. It was another one of those strange deaths, at first everyone had been fascinated by them and Lara had heard a lot of theories about them at school, but now they were normal and no one paid any attention to them.

At last the meal was over, now she could go upstairs and read. Half way up the stairs she stepped on something squishy. With a rather satisfying SQUELCH she pulled it off her sock and saw a fake poo. "Robbie!" She knew it was him, "Robbie! Come here!" He loved playing tricks and this was his all time favourite, "Seriously, how many times has Mum and Dad told you not to do that?" Robbie stared at her amusedly with a slightly bored expression, "Dunno, maybe 10, maybe 100. I don't care," he saw her accusing stare, "What! You know Mum and Dad won't punish me even if you tell, which I know you won't!" He really was very annoying sometimes. She walked upstairs to her room, ignoring her brothers gleeful shouts of, "Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!" She slammed the door shut behind her, closed the curtains, got changed and fell into bed trying to fall asleep.

 _ **Hope you liked, please leave a review so I know what you think! :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hope you enjoyed chapter 1 :)**_

Lara sprang out of bed the next day, finally, it was Saturday! Only that weekend then one day of the next week, then she was out of that school forever. She was so excited. No more detentions for Mrs. Benton or weird stares and mutterings from her classmates. A new beginning. A clean slate. Running downstairs she grabbed a comb and started to brush her hair. She was sure today would be good. She just knew it.

It took ages for everyone else to get downstairs, or so it seemed to Lara. Becky was the last down. Lara was starving, but her mother always insisted on having family meals, so they all had to wait for everyone else to be ready before they could eat. Lara wolfed hers down, then was about to go back upstairs to get dressed properly when she heard the mail coming in through the letter box. Scrambling out of her seat, she picked up all the letters and went back into the kitchen, sorting them into different piles. Some bills for her father. A postcard for her mother. Nothing for Robbie, Lara grinned at this, he hated having no mail. An unnamed, handwritten letter for Becky, Lara would ask her about that later. And... nothing for her either. Her smile faded as she sighed, "Come on! I've sorted the letters!" Everyone filed into the room, taking their letters. Robbie looked sulky when he realised he had none. Lara quickly ran upstairs before he could blame her for hiding letters or something.

After she had got dressed, she went downstairs and sat down, feeling sad, although not very surprised, that she did not have any mail today. A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts. Running to open it, Lara stared in surprise. An old, smiling man who she did not recognise was standing in the doorway. He had waist length silver hair and beard, glasses and a rather strange blue suit with a bright red tie. "Oh, um, hello," she faltered, his eccentric appearance was rather distracting, "Um, who are you here to see?" Out of the corner of her eye she could see her mother coming over, then stopping and staring at the strange man. He smiled, "I have come to talk to Lara Stevenson, I'm guessing that's you?"  
"Yes. That's- that's me," Lara really had no idea what was going on, she sensed her mother backing away slightly. He smiled again, at least he seemed nice, "I have come to give miss Stevenson a letter, I do hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I may need to explain some things before I leave," Lara watched as he drew an old envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. She looked at her letter, the address was strange, how did he know where she slept? Her hands shaking, Lara turned the envelope over. There was a big, red seal and a stamp she didn't recognise that looked like some sort of coat of arms. She tore open the envelope, eager to know what could possibly be inside. There was a letter and another sheet of paper, although it looked more like old parchment than anything else. He nodded at her encouragingly. She unfolded the letter.

 _Dear Miss. Stevenson,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

She just stared blankly at the innocent looking letter. She knew that it shouldn't make sense, but it did. It explained a lot of things. But she knew it might not be real, so she looked at the man and said, "Thank you sir, but how can I be sure this is real, I mean, you haven't even told me your name,"  
"Oh yes, I'm so sorry, my name is Professor Dumbledore, I am the Headmaster at the school," His blue eyes lit up as he smiled, "And to answer your other question..." He drew something long from a pocket and pointed it at a potted plant. It turned into a mouse. Lara blinked. Then, she cautiously went up to the mouse and prodded it. It squeaked and attempted to run away, but Dumbledore turned it back into a plant before it could go. "I, um, how?" She stammered, unable to take it all in, "Where do I get one of those?" She really wanted one. He paused and looked troubled for a moment, but then his face became neutral and she couldn't tell whether she had imagined it or not. "You can get wands from a shop in Diagon Alley, which is in London, along with all your other school supplies, which are listed on the other piece of parchment," He gestured to it, "Oh, and one more thing, your muggle money, that is to say non-magic money, can't be used in the wizarding world, so you will need to change some of your money at Gringotts, the wizarding bank."


End file.
